Friday, December 17, 2010

As most of you know, Dave and I subscribe to Gerald Celenete's Trends Journal. We think he knows what's up - and I wanted to share his latest email. Worth reading and preparing for. It is not easy, but together we can muddle through.

If you want to learn more go to www.trendsresearch.com.

RS

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Wake-Up Call: Top 11 Trends of 2011

Dear Trends Journal Subscriber,

In mid-January you will receive our “Top Trends 2011” – The Trends Research Institute’s compendium of the dominant trends for the year ahead. The following synopses of these trends provide insights into some of what to expect.

After the tumultuous years of the Great Recession, a battered people may wish that 2011 will bring a return to kinder, gentler times. But that is not what we are predicting. Instead, the fruits of government and institutional action – and inaction – on many fronts will ripen in unplanned-for fashions. Trends we have previously identified, and that have been brewing for some time, will reach maturity in 2011, impacting just about everyone in the world.

1. Wake-Up Call The reputation of Gerald Celente and The Trends Research Institute is based on its willingness to “tell it like it is.” Neither optimists nor pessimists, no matter whose interests it challenges, no matter whose feathers get ruffled, we are beholden to nothing but the facts … and follow them where they take us. Though unafraid to call a spade a spade, we do so with as much respect as is appropriate to the matter.

Thus, prevailing conditions and future trends require us to call it the way we see it, and with all due respect, this is what we see: the proverbial “s#%t has hit the fan.” The chickens have come home to roost, the genie is out of the bottle, and yes, the jig is up.

In 2011, the people of all nations will fully recognize how grave economic conditions have become, how ineffectual and self-serving the so-called solutions have been, and how dire the consequences will be. Only little kids, ideologues, the uniformed, and the out-of-their-minds will still believe what they are being told by politicians, pundits and experts who have higher-ups to answer to, agendas to fill, and something to sell.

Having become convinced of the inability of leaders and know-it-all arbiters of everything to fulfill their promises, the people will do more than just question authority – they will defy authority. The seeds of revolution will be sown in the streets of failing nations, on the Internet, and at the polling places.

2. Crack-Up 2011 Among our Top Trends for last year was the “Crash of 2010.” What happened? The stock market didn’t crash. We know. We made it clear in our Autumn Trends Journal that we were not forecasting a stock market crash – the equity markets were no longer a legitimate indicator of recovery or the real state of the economy. We pointed out that the action in the Dow was “merely a reflection of the cheaply borrowed dollars that were being used to gamble.”

What we did regard as reliable indicators included the employment numbers, the real estate market, currency pressures, and sovereign debt problems – all of which have bordered between crisis and disaster. We informed readers, “The Trends Research Institute cannot predict what undreamed-of-schemes Central Banks will dream up this time….” And dream and scheme they did. TARP and the Obama stimulus were only the financial props that the government made public. Just recently has it been revealed that secret backdoor bailouts amounting to over $20 trillion were funneled from the Federal Reserve, by way of “emergency lending programs,” to banks both foreign and domestic, hedge funds, select financial institutions, and favored corporations.

It was no different on the other side of the pond. The basic treaties agreed upon to establish the European Monetary Union were breached in order to bail out bankrupt banks and float nations sinking in sovereign debt.

In 2011, with the arsenal of schemes depleted, we predict that teetering economies will collapse, currency wars will ensue, trade barriers will be erected, economic unions will splinter, and the onset of the “Greatest Depression” will be recognized by everyone … even if they refuse to acknowledge it.

3. Screw the People As times get even tougher and people get even poorer, the “authorities” will intensify their efforts to extract the funds needed to meet fiscal obligations. The first round of “austerity measures” imposed by European governments provides the first taste of what to expect from recession-plagued nations. As the Great Recession extends its global reach, those high-flying emerging markets, which “experts” claim are immune, will also be submerged beneath loads of crushing debt and will also resort to austerity measures of their own.

While there will be variations on the theme, the governments’ song will be the same: cut what you give, raise what you take. Social safety nets will be torn and public services will be cut to the bone. Getting a lot less will cost taxpayers a lot more. While corporate tax rates are held sacrosanct and tax breaks and loopholes for the wealthy are maintained or widened, the arm of the revenuers and the arm of the law will reach ever deeper into the pockets of prols. The dulled minds of bureaucrats, whose own jobs depend on a steady stream of public funds, will shine with creativity as they look for any angle to wring the last penny from working men and women.

Sales taxes, sin taxes, highway tolls, meter fees, park permits, license fees, water rates, and the fines for every minor violation – from nuisance laws to speeding tickets and jaywalking to litterbugging – will go as high as the traffic can bear … before it goes even higher.

4. Crime Waves No job + no money + compounding debt = high stress, strained relations, short fuses. In 2011, with the fuse lit, it will be prime time for Crime Time. With little hope, few options, closed doors, and deep despair, Americans who had never thought of themselves as criminals will be driven to do what they have to in order to survive.

As Gerald Celente says, “When people lose everything and they have nothing left to lose, they lose it.” Besides, from top to bottom, crime has become institutionalized. In governments worldwide and from Broad Street to Wall Street, throughout corporate culture, and even at the bottom of the pile – among the welfare cheats and disability frauds – taking a stab at crime was already “as American as apple pie.”

Aside from the “filthy rich,” hardship-driven crimes will be committed across the socioeconomic spectrum by legions of the on-the-edge desperate who will do whatever they must to keep a roof over their heads and put food on the table.

5. Crackdown on Liberty As crime rates rise, so will the voices demanding a crackdown. Not only will fighting crime be a major plank in campaign platforms, it will provide yet another weapon in the crackdown on liberty. Under the rubric of Homeland Security and with the avowed purpose of fighting a “War on Terror,” Americans have already been stripped of critical Constitutional Rights. Now, with a new front opening up, a national crusade to “Get Tough on Crime” will be waged against the citizenry. And just as in the “War on Terror,” where “suspected terrorists” are killed before proven guilty or jailed without trial, in the “War on Crime” everyone is a suspect until proven innocent.

Beyond the warrantless wire taps, computer intrusions, GPS monitoring, stop-and-frisk searches, full-body scanning, TSA groping, and CCTVs or Google Street View watching every move – even the skies will know no limit to surveillance. Added to the satellite images taken from space, military-style aerial vehicles (UAVs) will soon bring the Afghanistan experience to American neighborhoods, starting with the Miami PD’s purchase of unmanned drones to hover over homes, follow suspects, and track enemies of the state.

6. Alternative Energy As gasoline prices speed past $3 a gallon and endless arguments about global warming wear on, the world is expecting the “usual suspects” of solar panels, wind and water turbines, geothermal, and biomass to provide tomorrow’s green, renewable power. But our real energy future lies on the far side of these interim technologies.

In laboratories and workshops unnoticed by mainstream analysts, scientific visionaries and entrepreneurs are forging a new physics incorporating principles once thought impossible, working to create devices that liberate more energy than they consume. Inventions that manipulate the hydrogen atom, spark low-temperature, radiation-free nuclear reactions, and capture useful power from the energy fields that surround us, are poised for commercialization.

What are they, and how long will it be before they can be brought to market? Shrewd investors will ignore the “can’t be done” skepticism, and examine the new trend opportunities to determine the winners and reap the rewards.

And rewards there will be. For those who are ahead of the times and on top of the trends of 2011 – developing, preparing, and planning for what lies ahead – there will be ample opportunities to be seized. Fortunes, names, and careers will be made by tapping into the newly emerging energy trends that will come of age in 2011.

7. Journalism 2.0 Though the trend has been in the making since the dawn of the Internet Revolution, 2011 will mark the year that new methods of news and information distribution will render the 20th century model obsolete. With universal access to publishing and broadcast technology, web news is able to escape the stultifying and elitist agendas of the mainstream media. With its unparalleled reach across borders and language barriers, “Journalism 2.0” has the potential to influence and educate citizens in a way that governments and corporate media moguls would never permit. Of the hundreds of trends we have forecast over three decades, few have the possibility of such far-reaching effects.

8. Cyberwars Just a decade ago, when the digital age was blooming and hackers were looked upon as annoying geeks, we forecast that the intrinsic fragility of the Internet and the vulnerability of the data it carried made it ripe for cyber-crime and cyber-warfare to flourish. In 2000, even while downplaying the severity of the risk, governments and e-commerce titans boasted that they could provide ample defenses.

In 2010, every major government acknowledged that Cyberwar was a clear and present danger and, in fact, had already begun. Stuxnet, WikiLeaks and a host of “Anonymous” battles have disrupted infrastructures, compromised government secrets, planted malware (secret digital agents) deep in the most crucial government, military and control centers, and closed down e-commerce at will.

The demonstrable effects of Cyberwar and its companion, Cybercrime, are already significant. Equally disruptive will be the harsh measures taken by global governments – in the name of Internet Security and fighting the “War on Terror” – to control free access to the web, identify its users, and literally shut down computers that it considers a threat to national security … however they define it.

9. Youth of the World Unite University degrees in hand yet out of work, in debt and with no prospects on the horizon, feeling betrayed and angry, forced to live back at home, with time on their hands and testosterone surging through their bodies – young adults and 20-somethings are mad as hell, and they’re not going to take it anymore.

Educated enough to understand that they will ultimately have to shoulder the debt burden acquired by their governments, as well as suffer from austerity measures, they are also savvy enough to know that if they don’t fight “against the machine” now, they will be run over by it for the rest of their lives. Filled with vigor, rife with passion, but not mature enough to control their impulses, the confrontations they engage in will often escalate disproportionately.

Anyone wondering about what happened to the protest spirit of earlier decades, will discover that all it takes to get youth back into the streets is a developed sense of the personal price that is being exacted from them.

Government efforts to exert control and return the youth to quiet complacency will be ham-fisted and ineffectual. Each small success and perceived incidence of government “caving” will lead to intensified protest. The Revolution will be televised … and blogged, YouTubed and Twittered.

10. End of The World! Get ready for Armageddon. The closer we get to 2012, the louder the calls will be that the “End is Near!”

Of course there have always been sects, at any time in history, that saw signs and portents proving the end of the world was imminent. But 2012 seems to hold a special meaning across a wide segment of “End-time” believers.

Among the Armageddonites, the actual end of the world and annihilation of the planet in 2012 is a matter of certainty. Some point to scripture, be it Revelations or Luke, as the source for their prophesies. Others say it was written in stone over a thousand years ago, in the detailed and sophisticated Mayan/Hopi calendar. These believers pinpoint the coming of the “end” to occur on 21 December 2012.

Even the rational and informed who carefully follow the news of never-ending global crises, may sometimes feel the world is in a perilous state. Both streams of thought are leading many to reevaluate their chances for personal survival, be it in heaven or on earth.

For the non-religious/non-prophesy prone, who fear economic, social and military chaos, “Survivalism” – and all that it entails – is a trend that will dominate in the year to come.

For the others, repenting, converting, doing penance and praying will take up much of the energy that could otherwise be directed toward securing their safety in the here and now.

11. The Mystery Trend ... will be revealed the second week of January.

Rest assured if there are any major developments or events that transpire between now and when the Trends Journal comes out, you will be notified via a Trend Alert.

Best wishes for a joyous holiday season and a healthy and prosperous new year.

Tuesday, December 14, 2010

Many of you have written to me asking if you missed the deadline. No you haven't. I have a wonderful crew of artists who are interested in working on the show. I am swimming in projects, and so it goes slower than planned. Mea Culpa.
So in the interest of calm, I've decided to do this slowly and mentor on how to put a show like this together.

The prospectus for submissions won't be ready before mid/end of January 2011. For those who are interested in learning how a show gets put together, here are the minutes from our meeting. Transparency is a good thing, how else will we learn? Next time I'll take photos!

We are all in this together - together let's do something meaningful, enhancing and life changing. A toast to artists taking their careers into their own hands!

Summary of Meeting 11/29/10

The Beauty of Divinity and the Necessity of Decay

Exhibition meeting: Schaller + Jaquish Art Projects

The meeting was great. I've been swamped since (as usual) so will need to move deadline of PR and Posting info to Mani and Patricia to next FridayDec 10, 2010. (update - make that 12/17)

Attendees:
RS (interested in sharing and mentoring how to create and launch a show), Adam Doyle (interested in curating), Patricia Silva (interested in writing about art and curating) , Mani Cunningham (interested in PR and Marketing, and being around artists and helping in any way).

We set up a milestones and a timeline (which will be flexible)
Launch a Fall 2011 (Nov 2011) or Winter show ( Jan 2012)
Updated PR list - include free listing, local, regional, national, international - by mid January 11- Mani will work on w/RS
Updated Postings list/call for entries - calls (free listings) - by mid January - Patricia will work on w/RS
Curatorial statement - two visions of show to be developed/one by Adam one by Patricia - by mid January 11/final draft by Feb 11 RS to have final say
Prospectus - rewritten for this show, including all aspects of vision, submissions, timetable - by mid February 11 (not assigned yet)

Show Dates: November 2011 or January 2012
Location: online project room. Possible Living Room Gallery show. Possible Pop-up ideas to be explored
Title: tentative: The Divinity of Beauty and the Necessity of Decay
Media: All. RS very interested in video and performance, photography and animation. Will also include plastic arts. (painting, drawing,etc)
Commissions: No fees charged to artists to submit. RS takes no commission on sales for online show. Perhaps for Living Room gallery, not decided. No awards or fees paid to artists. Barter arrangements as needed.
Website work - must find help ( Leigh has now volunteered to do web updates)

If November show:
PR launch - May 2011 (6 months advance), August 2011 (3 months advance), October 2011 (1 month advance)
Call for work launch - June 2011, July 2011 calendars with August 1 deadline
(Need 2 - 3 months to review entries, make selections, prepare website. For a November show - need October and September to prepare. Call for work deadline August 2011.)
PR Blogging and articles launch: to create buzz for show: June 2011, July 2011, August 2011, September 2011 for pre-press

RS to do:
RS will send Mani list of PR outlets we've used in the past and review how to update/done 12/14
RS will send Patricia list of posting outlets we've used in the past and review how to update- aim for 12/17
RS will send Adam and Patricia written notes on ideas behind the show and references - aim for before X-MAS
RS will update all members on what happened at meeting and schedule next meeting/done 12/1

Mani to do:
PR list and research

Patricia to do:
Postings list and research
Curatorial idea - written vision statement

Sunday, December 12, 2010

I just saw this on the MVS Marketing Blog (great resource by the way - http://mvswanson.com/category/mvs-marketing-blog)

From the Magenta Foundation:
Call for Submissions: Flash Forward 2011
The Magenta Foundation is pleased to announce Year Seven of its Emerging Photographers exchange.
This is an open call for submissions.
All photographers in Canada, the UK and the US 34 years of age and under may submit.
All submission requirements and instructions are located on our website
Jurors for 2011:
Canada:
Julien Beaupré Ste-Marie, Photo Editor, enRoute Magazine
Erin Elder, Manager, Business Development, Digital Media, The Globe and Mail
Robyn McCallum, Bau-Xi Photo Gallery, Toronto
UK:
Diane Smyth, British Journal of Photography, London
Harry Hardie, Director, HOST Gallery
Bruno Ceschel, Founder, Self Publish, Be Happy
Aaron Schuman, Director and Editor, Seesaw Magazine
US:
Andy Adams, Editor and Publisher, Flak Photo
Shane Lavalette, Photographer and Publisher/Editor, Lay Flat
Competition Prizing:
The Bright Spark Award winner will receive $5,000.
As in the past, all competition Winners and Honourable Mentions will be published in a high quality catalogue. Along with being published, select 2011 Flash Forward Winners will be featured in a touring exhibition.
In January 2011, a significant additional component will be announced to complement the program’s alternate festival years. Stay tuned and sign up for our newsletter.
Submission Deadline:
Submissions close on Fri, Dec 31, 2010.
Click here for “Guidelines for Submission”
Submission Fees:
Canada: $50
USA: $50
UK: £30

January 24th - Visualizing the Future: Take Charge of Your Career class starts
I'm very happy to share that I will be teaching two classes in the SP 11 semester, open to the public.
You can register now for these Division of Continuing Ed classes at School of Visual Arts

Goals are simply dreams with deadlines. Learn how to use creative
visualization and self-assessment techniques to become your own career
counselor and envision a professional plan. Whether you are looking
for more meaningful work, reinventing your career or starting a
business, this course will focus on creating a strategic plan that
will culminate in a personal action plan. We will cover the basics of
creative visualization and career strategy development through
assessment and visioning exercises and weekly assignments.
Participants will complete the course with individualized career
management tools that will nurture, restore and improve their careers
and creativity. Note: No prior drawing or meditation experience is
necessary.

This course will concentrate on how to prepare and apply for funding.
Topics include: why and how grants are made to individuals; the best
tools for researching potential funders, and how to identify those
that match your needs. We will focus on what makes a successful
proposal and the all-important money question - how to create an
appropriate budget and know what to ask for. Clarity of writing and
the proper tailoring of your proposal to a specific source will be
emphasized. Participants will complete weekly assignments, culminating
in a template grant proposal and budget. This course is for anyone
interested in improving his or her chances of receiving funding. Note:
No prior grant writing experience is required.

Saturday, December 11, 2010

New opportunities are listed on CaFE™, I just got their newsletter. Many application deadlines are approaching. See what new opportunities you can apply to below. You can login to CaFE by going to www.callforentry.org to apply to one of these opportunities.

The Denver Office of Cultural Affairs (DOCA) seeks to commission an artist or team of artists to create site-specific artwork for Denver Health (Pavilion A Entrance), near downtown Denver. The funding currently designated for public art at the site is $40,000 including design, fabrication and installation. The project is open to all artists in Colorado working in all media and materials. Location: Denver Health, 777 Bannock Street, Denver, CO 80204 Applications must be submitted on www.callforentry.org by 5:00 pm on December 13, 2010.

Prospectus 212 North American Wind Research and Training Center at Mesalands Community College
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Entry Deadline: 12/16/10

The Art in Public Places Program of New Mexico Arts and the Local Selection Committee at Mesalands Community College seek an artist or artist team to create a site-specific commission project at the North American Wind Research and Training Center in Tucumcari, New Mexico. Professional artists demonstrating a level of experience that is commensurate with the project scope and budget are invited to submit qualifications to this opportunity. $64,300 is available for this project.

The 4th Floor Award is a biennial, regional art competition open to professional (non-student) artists in the Greater Cincinnati Area. Juried exclusively by 4th Floor Members, the Award seeks to recognize emerging local talent in the visual arts while creating dialogue between collectors, artists and art enthusiasts. Three finalists and the winner will receive monetary awards. The winner receives a solo exhibition at the Cincinnati Art Museum.

Earth Through a Lens
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Fee: $35.00 (Earth Through a Lens)
Entry Deadline: 1/7/11

Earth Through a Lens is an annual juried photographic competition open to both amateur and professional photographers living in North America. The goals of this project are to provide a professional quality photographic display that underscores the need to develop a more sustainable environment. A side goal is to engage photographers in cataloging changes in the natural environment due to human activity. The display of approximately 30-50 images from 15 March- April 30 will focus on beauty in the natural environment, the degradation of the environment by human activity, and attempts to reclaim or restore spoiled habitats. In sum, the photographs will highlight the importance of developing a sustainable environment. The 30-50 finalists will provide a print photograph to be matted and framed by ETAL to allow uniform framing of the work. The finalists' work will also be exhibited digitally at the California Museum of Photography, included in the exhibit catalog, and displayed i! n Palm Springs and in Rancho Mirage, CA. Three winning photographs will be selected with these photographers to receive cash prizes ranging from $500-$1500.

Nude Nite - Orlando Event Dates: February 10,11,12, 2011 Submission Deadline: January 13, 2011 $40 fee per Application to include up to 2 images. Location: TBA Nude Nite, in its 13th year is the largest nude art show in the country. The show is held annually in Orlando/Tampa. Each show is treated separately so artists may apply to both. Genre's represented range from sculpture, mixed media, metal, oil, acrylic, watercolor, digital, photography, glass, woodcraft, found object and film.

The objective of Hoover Harmony Jewelry Design Competition is to use jewelry as a way to raise money for different charities through out the world. The Harmony Jewelry Design Competition will target jewelry students and small, US based, independent artisan/designers to come up with original designs within a specific budget. Hoover and Strong will then manufacture a singular winning design and market it to [retail] jewelers at the end of the competition to raise money for an annually selected charity. A fundraising for charities marketing structure will guide the jewelry design competition as the primary motivator for participation to designers, retailers, and consumers.

Women's Works™ is a juried fine art exhibit, celebrating women artists and is presented annually by the Northwest Area Arts Council (naac). It is our goal, with this show, to focus on women artists of North America. Women's Works™ provides an opportunity to showcase the creative efforts of women artists. This, the 24th Anniversary Exhibit of Fine Art by Women - takes place at the Old Court House Arts Center on the Historic Town Square in Woodstock, Illinois.

EVENT DATE: MARCH 3, 4, 5 - 2011 Submission Deadline: January 27,2011 LOCATION: THE TROLLEY BARN 1910 N. Ola Ave. Tampa, FL 33602 $40 fee per Application to include up to 2 images. 1910 N. Ola Ave. Tampa, FL 33602 6pm - 12am Nude Nite represents a new class of art show. One inspired by the original inspiration, the nude. A nouveau art event showcasing hundreds of fresh and sophisticated works and performances. Held annually in both Orlando and Tampa, Florida the 3 nite visual event is deemed a "not to be missed" event by The Orlando Sentinel. Nude Nite is a juried exhibit with a full gallery sales team focused on building a collector base at its events. Installations, Performance Artists and vendors, please email Kelly@nudeniteorlando.com for consideration

Open to professional Colorado artists working in any outdoor and three dimensional medium. Town of Parker, Committee for Art in Public Places seeks artist to provide and/or create an outdoor sculpture to be placed in front of the glass windows near the main entrance. The artwork should be a monumental sculpture. Due to the location of the work(s), the committee is open to suggestions and interpretations by the artists. The Committee strongly encourages the artist to share the vision for the space as they feel it best represents PACE Center, Parker and its citizens.

Student Exhibition and Digital Presentation to be held in conjunction with the 2011 Society of North American Goldsmiths Conference.

The Public Art Exhibition on Hilton Head Island
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Fee: $35.00 (The Public Art Exhibition on Hilton Head Island )
Entry Deadline: 2/15/11

The Inaugural Public Art Exhibition will be held from September to December 31, 2011 at the spectacular and historic Coastal Discovery Museum Honey Horn Plantation on Hilton Head Island. Regional, national and international sculpture artists are invited to submit work for display during the event. A nationally-recognized jury has been assembled to review and choose for the Inaugural Public Art Exhibition. Selected sculptures/sculptors will be awarded a $2,000 participation stipend and outstanding artworks will receive cash prize awards. As a secondary and project, the jurors will be also considering artwork for purchase $50,000 to $75,000, and these artworks will become a permanent part of Hilton Head Island's growing public art collection. The public promotion of the event and awards ceremony will take place September 24-November 5, 2011, however artists are strongly encouraged to leave their piece on site through December 31, 2011. The mission of the Public Art Exhibition ! is to be an important, internationally recognized platform for sculpture while educating and inspiring the Hilton Head Island community and its many visitors. To learn more about the event, go to www.hhipublicart.org.

The City of Asheville Parks, Recreation and Cultural Arts Department is seeking artist instructors, demonstrators, and performers for their cultural arts programming throughout Asheville.

2011 Art aRound Town in Carbondale, Colorado
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Entry Deadline: 3/1/11

Art aRound Town in hip Carbondale, Colorado! Internationally famous sculptor James Surls and the Carbondale Public Arts Commission will jury the 2011 street art program in Carbondale, a lively community near Aspen and home of the new Jasper Johns Powers Art Center. Our increased honorarium should tempt you, too. Be seen in the Roaring Fork Valley's hot spot! Eight sculptures will be accepted.

Gates of the Arctic National Park and Preserve 2012 Artist-in-Residence Program
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Entry Deadline: 3/1/11

The Gates of the Arctic Artist-in-Residence program offers professional writers, composers, musicians, two and three-dimensional visual artists, photographers, filmmakers, and artisans of all types the opportunity to pursue their art in a premier wilderness setting; Gates of the Arctic National Park and Preserve. For more information on Gates of the Arctic, the Artist in Residence program and tips for applications www.nps.gov/gaar/artistinresidence.htm.

As an artist centric organization CUE Art Foundation seeks out new ways to serve under-recognized artists. With the aim of offering a more open and inclusive exhibition opportunity to our community, CUE is launching an open application program with the first selected proposal being showcased in March 2012 for approximately 7 weeks. This open call will offer a show to one selected applicant per exhibition season. Each year, CUE will consider new criteria for the open application exhibition ensuring opportunities are created for a diversity of voices. Each year, CUE's Exhibition Curatorial Advisory Council will be engaged to help determine the criteria, keeping in mind the necessity of it pertaining to current issues within the art world and embracing CUE’s mission.

The Honolulu Academy of Arts annual juried exhibition is one of the longest running juried exhibitions in the country, showcasing the quality and diversity of Hawaii’s artists. All artists residing in the state of Hawaii are eligible. Artists may submit up to 3 artworks. There is a $25 Jury Fee which includes one digital image submission. Each additional digital image submitted is $5 (1 entry=$25; 2 entries=$30; 3 entries=$35; 1 entry+1 detail=$30; 2 entries+1 detail=$35, etc). For more information on the Honolulu Academy of Arts please visit www.honoluluacademy.org.

The John Michael Kohler Arts and Industry residency is a long-term residency in Kohler, Wisconsin. The residency is open to visual artists worldwide. Applications are accepted year-round, but there is a deadline of April 1 for residencies in the following calendar year. Major funding is provided by Kohler Co.

Hit That Shutter Is pleased to announce a call for entries for publication in a professionally printed collection of undergraduate work from around the country.

Nine Dot Arts Artist Database
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Entry Deadline: Rolling

NINE dot ARTS is a corporate art consulting firm based in Denver, CO. We find and secure artwork for corporate clients such as hotels, hospitals, and private offices. We are building our new artist database and are open for submissions from both existing and new artists.

Wednesday, December 1, 2010

1. Name the five wealthiest people in the world. 2. Name the last five Heisman trophy winners. 3. Name the last five winners of the Miss America pageant. 4 Name ten people who have won the Nobel or Pulitzer Prize. 5. Name the last half dozen Academy Award winners for best actor and actress. 6. Name the last decade's worth of World Series winners.

How did you do? The point is, none of us remember the headliners of yesterday. These are no second-rate achievers. They are the best in their fields. But the applause dies.. Awards tarnish.. Achievements are forgotten. Accolades and certificates are buried with their owners.

Here's another quiz. See how you do on this one:
1. List a few teachers who aided your journey through school. 2. Name three friends who have helped you through a difficult time. 3. Name five people who have taught you something worthwhile. 4. Think of a few people who have made you feel appreciated and special. 5. Think of five people you enjoy spending time with.

Easier?The lesson:The people who make a difference in your life are not the ones with the
most credentials, the most money...or the most awards.They simply are the ones who care the most

Thursday, November 25, 2010

With Uranus (the planet of individuation and authenticity) about to make a station (stand still for a moment before it goes direct again, and rock all of our boats) I find that I think about de-conditioning from the known - a lot. What is my authentic path? Am I on it? Have I strayed? Do I need a course correction? Cause, I know, Uranus will invite my biography into alignment, whether I like it or not.

So, this morning it was no surprise that Dave started to talk about Mother Divine and the tides - the energy of all that is flowing within us - and we wondered what is authentic expression given that we are both the observer of the tides and the expression of the tides?

Dave then wrote out this beautiful meditation to ponder that I had to share with you - what a wonderful way to spend Thanksgiving. Sitting in the lap of the source and expressing that truth. Enjoy.

Meditation on Identity and its Source

The source of all manifestation is the Tides.

On earth, between the Sun and Moon the Tides ever flow.

There is a dimension of Reality prior to the Tides, but if we talk of anything that can be experienced and retained in memory….we are speaking of that which the Tides gave rise to.

Our personality is an expression of the Tides of consciousness ebbing and flowing.

Let them flow authentically. It all happens automatically, rightly understood.

We should get out of their way, witness their motion.

There is a body, personality, mind and heart….there are memories, habits and reflexive mental and emotional states….yet these are not our essential nature.

All of these exist within time and space, yet belong to the fabric of Space itself.

We can witness the flow of energy and creativity….let the mind, heart and senses be the conduits of their expressions.

Saturday, October 23, 2010

Woke up at 6:00 am and meditated to the sun rise - it was the best birthday morning.
Then met up with 7 brave souls who came out on an NYC morning at 8am (ish) to talk about art, life and share a cup of coffee and a croissant. It was sweet, a fabulous way to start the day. Just talking. Just sharing. Simple, human, connection.

Nice change from artists drinking and competing over crap. Instead of "what about me" it was "what about you".

I'm not a great photographer (or even a good one) but I wanted to share a wonderful happening- artists talking about things that mattered to them, over a cup of coffee. What could be bad?

Saturday, September 25, 2010

I was reading the other day about Noah Brier, and a group he founded called Likemind, where creative people in cities around the world get together for an early coffee before the work day begins to talk, share, stay in touch. It's grown to thousands of creative people. Think about that - it's awesome.

Why don't we - the alternative art and spirit folk do that? Maybe because we don't get up early, or designers and marketers understand that they need each other, they hire each other and fine artists don't quite get it. Well time to get it. Time to reframe it. Don't you think?

And not in a what's in it for me mode - or how do we turn this into the next big thing mode, or the what about me, what about me, what about me refrain. I guess I'm looking to encourage and inspire perhaps an inclusive vs exclusive art mind, that is open, respect based, honestly community sourced, and builds business appreciation inherently in its structure.

Thursday, September 23, 2010

Every person has a creative myth that lives inside them, its a destination and a journey, and it is always unique. That's what I love about narrative, and pictures, images of all kinds, it's the story.

I like being intrigued by the stories around me, others stories always invite resonance within me. Sometimes it connects sometimes not, but I find if the artist or writer is authentic, does not hide but reveals - I'm usually touched. And that's the point, isn't it? I don't think it matters if the symbols used to tell a story are obscure or linear - the essence is communicated when done "right".

We each have our own symbol system that we use to tell our story, and more times than not its a mythic journey that we are compelled to tell and follow. That is what is so interesting about the human dilemma. We are all ONE and not, at the same time. A combination of carbon and hydrogen plus consciousness. Fascinating.

Then the individual metaphors take shape and we are living a dharmic karmic passion play. We see it in our work we see it in our lives. Don't you find that fascinating?

Sometimes the metaphors are sign posts, our teachers and our tricksters based on our level of awareness. I sometimes image it as a monkey who lives in the back of head, fighting for my heart and minds attention. Follow me follow me says the monkey, trickster or teacher?

That's why I love meditation, visualization and astrological study. These processes help me illuminate the symbols in my work and that I live out in my life, in truth - I believe it is really the monkey within that compels the life story to unfold.

And talk. And dance. The law of detachment asks us to be the knowing, the knower and the known simultaneously. I find that inspiring, and through focused breath and intention I unfold the teacher within and uncover myself in the symbols. That is the heart of my art work and my teaching practice.

And ideally, I can learn to laugh at the monkey or with him as the case may be. Cause the monkey within - is me.
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Evolutionary Astrology Class starts on Thursday, September 30th - email me at rhonda.schaller@gmail.com if you are interested in joining the "monkey" journey.

Monday, September 20, 2010

There are so many ways to "be" in the world. There is a wisdom in uncertainty that we overlook so much of the time. Our freedom from the known allows us to untangle our conditioning to the past. And that conditioning forces us, without even thinking to repeat the same old mistakes, the same old ways of doing life, doing career, doing relationships, doing art.

Our willingness to step off into the fields of creative potential and possibilities and find a new perspective in which to define our goals, can hold the seeds of amazing growth.

Ask yourself "in what ways might I...... " and then fill in the blank. Fill yourself with the answer, radiate ideas in your heart, in your body. Encompass possibility in your breathe and surrender to the creative mind that orchestrates the universe. And dance.

Monday, September 6, 2010

Oh the challenges of being human, the emotional body, the etheric body - the part of self that does not want to be a body...that recognizes that in truth, we are not the body. We are prior. We are that which makes having a body possible. Have you ever felt like that? When I have glimpses of the eternal in my waking mind and heart, I feel so at peace. As if the integrity of my positive waking purpose merges with the eternal dharma of being human. And its not so bad being in the body, its almost funny.

But that could be my Pisces moon laughing at the job of living. We should all take a moment to laugh every day. Truly. Nothing more positive than honest joy. Life force running through our veins is a source of honest joy.

Last night, sitting at the Hoboken waterfront with Dave, talking about living and doing the best we can. Living with integrity, dying with integrity. For a space of time at death we are still the personality, who we were when we died, and then that fades and all that is left is that which made the personality possible.

Energy within the veils of oblivion, the entrances into those spaces are possible to discover in meditation. One of the meditations I taught in the Creative Visualization class had participants merge into liquid consciousness and enter the universe through the beads of life force. It was really beautiful. I think we'll do that one again, as the start to the Evolutionary Astrology class.

We start the Evolutionary Astrology class on Sept 30th. It's going to be so fabulous to explore through the symbols biographies, personalities and consciousness. To oblivion and beyond.....

Friday, August 13, 2010

When an amazing composer writes music, a cd is made, the radios carry it, the everyday person gets to listen, their lives are enhanced and the musician makes money. A good equation. No one says its low art or high art. It is simply art for a particular audience.

Why is the visual artist not doing a similar pattern? What can we learn from musicians? There has got to be a way for us, the talented ( and yes I mean YOU) to move out of this ridiculous ART STAR mentality, and get back to WHY art is made in the first place.

To enhance the human spirit.

So, let's say your art enhances the spirit of all mankind. Why are you afraid of making your work accessible to as many people as possible? At a value price point that can allow you to make money but also allow the everyday person to own it? Why are we as a community not finding ways together to thumb our noses at the "retail" gallery system that sells "exclusivity" and innovating quality and exceptional "inclusivity" instead?

Let's create a marketplace of louise nevelson quality art that every person can have and evolve from their experience with it. Let's get back to the temple art, and the community shaman whose visuals and images enhanced the live's of every citizen.

A while ago I wrote about the CSA movement. The community supported agriculture. I love it, I'm a part of it. I recognize that if I pay someone for my food, I'm happy and eating healthy. I know there is a way for us as artists to do the same.

Sunday, August 8, 2010

How do we stay calm under duress? To feel empowered instead of afraid? Empowered. To be fully in our power. Power within brings an amazing strength. Power within is not power over. Makes me take a deep breath as I type. That's a clue.

True power has nothing to do with the ego, with things around us or what we have. It is a sense of being - an at home feeling with the perceiving - that we are our truth. Not that we are doing our truth. A subtle difference, and yet everything is in that distinction. We are not in truth the perceiver or the perceived. We are simply prior to all of that.

Dave and I took a walk along the waterfront today, and he reminded me that all of the psychic phenomena that I have experienced in my life, was simply the dream illustrating a path through the dream to something prior. I love that awareness, and agree.

I find it calming.

And how do we manage that awareness? It's a tall order that can happen instantly. All messages in meditation and psychic phenomena can lead us within the dream to understand that the dream is simply a phase. We can go beyond it. But it is the route we take, the personal myth that our dreams illustrate that takes us there.

I find that calming as well.

Beyond to prior - that is what some refer to as the source.

This is where breathing meditation helps tremendously. We can feel empowered by knowing that we cannot control the biography around us, we can witnes it and be the essence that is the witness simultaneously. Deep breath. It is all in the script really. We simply need to live it in awareness. Everything holds a lesson for us about our karma and our work in the world.

I find that to be very calming. And down right joyous.

I've been asked to teach 2 courses in Spring 2011 for the School of Visual Arts Continuing Education department, a course in visioning and one in fund raising. The core of both need to be on "staying calm." How do we create calm in our careers and in our art projects? How do we teach ourselves calm in our life planning and search for meaning? How does our sense of calm impact our art projects for the world and the communities benefit?

Staying calm. In a world that is collapsing around us, I think the best answer to "what do you do? is "I stay calm".

Saturday, July 31, 2010

Dave and I have named our home the Create Meditate Center. The "living room series" was such fun, and the energy of the artists meditating, talking, sharing was brilliant. A wonderful experiment, that we will continue through out the fall.

A holistic approach to art, life, and career - it is really such a wonderful offering to our community. I find such meaning in doing this work, and being myself.

We'll continue to call it "Wisdom, Vision and Craft" but have expanded it now to be a series of astrological, creative visualization and career strategy classes for
artists (and their guests).

I have always believed that spirit, peace within, presence and art making can go hand in hand. As vision makers, we have access to realms others do not see or sense, yet we do not understand them nor know how to bridge the material plane with the artistic plane with the spiritual plane that underpins it all. We must learn to incorporate the spirit within. And then apply it in the world. This way our work and our vision can help heal and create renaissance in our communities.

Our intention is to create a place for artists and creatives at heart, to come together under one roof, to evolve, discuss matters of career, heart and spirit and form community.

A registration form is posted to the group

http://groups.google.com/group/wisdom-vision-and-craft

So here is the schedule for Aug, Sept and Oct 2010. I am really excited about this.

Evolutionary Astrology
We will meet for 5 Thursdays, your personal chart will be used as a learning tool. Find out why you are here, and what your soul’s intent is.
Dates: 6:30 - 8:30 Thursday evenings, 9/30 - 10/28 $75

Principals for Success: A Practical Guide to Abundance and Alternative Thinking for Artists
We will meet once a month, Saturday’s 10 - 3 for a day of meditation and visioning, Sunday’s 11 - 3 for a day of art talk, strategy and discussion on how to apply the visions from meditation.
Dates: 8/21 - 8/22 $75
Dates: 9/18 - 919 $75
Dates: 10/16 - 10/17 $75

Friday, July 9, 2010

The images that play within my minds eye stream through me. I guess we all are animate video screens of content. Sometimes the content is my mind - those incessant thoughts that distract and cause disruption. I give them so much power. The past plays back to us disguised as the future. Though it is the same movie, different characters but I know that story line.

How freeing when I can notice it. Laugh at myself or say, "ah - interesting. What am I doing that for - now?" I love when I can perceive the act as it is enacted. When I am in my most aware place - that calm centered place, then I am the witness and not identified as the player. Love those moments. Feels ageless. When I know I am truly prior.

That is the beautiful stream of consciousness. Not thought, not mind, not emotion. Streaming fields of energy and vibration as it courses through the body and creates awareness. So poignant and liberating.

Realization is the tiny moments of the real.

Momentary yet eternal. When time dissipates and all that is - is prior to thought. Before the naming, before the understanding, an expanded feeling of ahh....

Makes so much of human activity seem miniscule and childish. That peaceful center that radiates love and changes perception of self to SELF, has a sense of humor at its core. I think we are human so we can learn to laugh at ourselves. Laughing yoga makes so much sense to me.

I picture the streaming consciousness as a waterfall - sitting in a cross-legged position, in a circle of liquid light I am washed clean of thought and emotional presence into a state of dissolution. Eternal, Noble, Beautiful. Tickled. That is true happiness.

Thursday, July 1, 2010

It has been my experience over the last 30 years or so, that each person's journey is unique. We each have our own symbol system and mythic journey to follow. That is what is so interesting about the human dilemma. We are both ONE and not, at least from our minds point of view.

So the metaphors in this healing journey, are sign posts for our hearts and minds to follow as we illuminate the soul within. That is what psychic healing meditations can open for someone interested in using meditation practice to launch their metaphysical investigations.

I find these types of meditations to be an interesting route into the other realms, we start with self - to dissolve self, and our spirit guides the messages received.
It is always personal and universal at the same time. A adventure through the planet Uranus, to say the least. That is how it feels to walk our personal mythic landscape. Unknown, scary, confusing, immediate and yes, at times we even fall asleep. No matter, it is always interesting.

To be compelled forward by our own metaphors fascinates me, and is an artist path.

In our artwork we depict the unconscious impulses, that drive the ideas we carry onward. Sometimes they are of the mind, sometimes of the heart, at times when we are lucky, they are of the universal mind. On some energetic level we imbue our surface with wisdom.

Our task, as students of the universe, is to simply be and witness the gifts that we can allow ourselves to take in. Sometimes that alone is a lifetimes worth of work. Compassion for self is called for.

Through a dedication to our practice, we can uncover the peace that our personal myths lead us to, ultimately to the eternal light. The eternal silence, the liquid consciousness of the ONE.

How we get there is always personal, where we get to...that is the universal. Lovely.

Tuesday, June 29, 2010

I taught a class tonight in creative visualization and self assessment - 2 career management tools. And it was very interesting. What I discovered was that at times our visions of our success are very different than our ideas of what success means. It seems to me that our job is to create bridges for ourselves between the two.

I think that happens with manifest creation all the time. Our spirit send us impulses in the form of vision. We travel the roads of the ether in that spaciousness. Then our egos and minds create ideas based on conditioning that we feel compelled to actualize. Where do they meet?

Monday, June 28, 2010

As artists we tend to flow through time while working. The process of creation manifests an impulse within to move through time and space into a nether region of possibilities.

Possibilities. A blank piece of paper. A white canvas. Awestruck. The space in between my hand raising to put a mark down and the time it takes my brain to catch up to the impulse creates a living meditation.

Possibilities. A breathe.

I close my eyes in daily meditation to sit in the lap of the possibilities of the moment. That is the way my brain organizes the time.

In truth, there are no possibilities, because it all exists already.

That is the most hopeful thought in truth.

I find eternal solace in the knowledge that I move through time and space only in my mind. My ego can hold that to be self evident. And then leave me alone.

My spirit home - ah, I am that. Peaceful. Perhaps the bridge is in the painting.

Saturday, June 26, 2010

Intense energies tonight and forever. Living on the precipice, we are. How to help?

Breathe.

Remember that we are not the body. We are not the mind. We are not we. I am that. And that makes me "we". Lovely in its simplicity really.

Dave and I walked along the beautiful Hoboken waterfront today - talking about life in the dream. We are all living in the illusion of reality, the dream. Perhaps it is enough, that awareness. Perhaps our duty to humanity, our neighbors is to recognize that it is a dream, and help maneuver the best we can within it. Until, such time as we are dissolved within it. And then, both inside it and outside it.

Wednesday, June 23, 2010

I am so excited about the Hoboken group starting next week. Artists coming together to meditate and visualize life connecting with heart connecting with spirit connecting with their creativity. Everything comes around to inspiration and manifestation.

Saturday, June 19, 2010

After walking downtown from SVA, I wandered through the Housing Works bookstore on Crosby street. One of my favorite used bookstores and cafes. I can never figure out the cafe hours though, and it seems to be always closed when I'm at the bookstore. But, you can sit at the cafe tables anyway, and read, drink the water you have in your bag, and absorb the great vibes of this store. I love those wonderful books and mahogany bookshelves.

I usually buy a $1 book and find some treasure or another that I can then give as a gift to a friend. My latest find is "A Sand County Almanac and Sketches Here and There" by Aldo Leopold, illustrated by Charles W. Schwartz published 1949.

It starts with "there are some who can live without wild things, and some who cannot. These essays are the delights and dilemmas of one who cannot."

It made me think - who am I? Am I one who can or cannot? I am drawn to wild things - and frightened by them. Long to loose myself in the natural world and yet I hide in cities - have my entire life.

He says "conservation is getting nowhere because it is incompatible with our Abrahamic concept of land. We abuse land because we regard it as a commodity belonging to us. When we see land as a community to which we belong, we may begin to use it with love and respect."

"Land is to be loved and respected because it is an extension of ethics." It is right. Simple. I like him.

I was so moved by this. Perhaps as the world experiences ruin in a continuous death gasp of modernity, our sham recovery and unadvertised depression, we, the creative, the spiritual, the everywoman/man will voluntarily reconnect with inner and natural value. We can develop an ecology of spirit in line with Leopold's observations of 60 years ago. I think. I hope. I'm not sure. I don't like camping. I don't like bugs. But I do love the open sky, and the open ocean. And watching National Geographic.

" ...whatever the truth may be, this much is crystal clear: our bigger-and-better society is now like a hypochondriac, so obsessed with its own economic health as to have lost the capacity to remain healthy. The whole world is so greedy for more bathtubs that it has lost the stability necessary to build them, or even to turn off the tap. Nothing could be more salutary at this stage than a little healthy contempt for a plethora of material blessings. Perhaps such a shift of values can be achieved by reappraising things unnatural, tame and confined in terms of things natural, wild and free. "

Natural, wild and free. I'm game ( no pun intended). Maybe I can let myself be wild. Perhaps all I need is curiosity, and I don't have to camp. Maybe I can just open my eyes to the natural world, and sit in the silence that is true, and in that complexity and simplicity that is real - make shift with things as they are.

Saturday, June 12, 2010

CSF - means community supported farm. We recently joined a CSA (community supported agriculture) group in Hoboken, sponsored by the Catalpa Ridge Farm in NJ. Farmer Rich and Sue have been growing "real" vegies for 15 years as a CSF and I cannot tell you how happy I am to be eating and cooking for my family from their bounty.

In addition, the CSA movement fascinates me. Imagine - a group of families (150) pay Farmer Rich and Sue upfront so they can plant the fields and grow food for us that is not poisened, modified, genetically interferred with, just "is". And as a cook, to eat and touch live food, I have been ecstatically cooking all week. Even Elia ate salad all week, and Dave and I have kvelled over each and every vegie.

There has to be a model here for all of us. As the world turns and changes, and falls apart, how can we as artists also create a CSA (community supported artworks). There must be new models that can be created. We know how beauty soothes the soul, how art is the heart of renaissance in life.

I know if we all 'sit on it, pray on it, think on it" ( thank you Boston Legal) we will intuit a new way of sharing , promoting, making a living as and for the artists in our souls.

With the collapse of '10 underway, it is up to us. No one will save us but our intuition and joining together, somehow in groups that of common purpose, common image, common intent... I don't know yet, don't have the image yet - it is foggy. But it is forming. I can feel it taking hold. I look forward to joining with those whom I resonate with, and those I don't (ah those karmic lessons) so in light and positive practicality we co-create what is needed.

Monday, June 7, 2010

I'm delighted to announce that I will be running "Wisdom, Vision and Craft" a creative visualization and meditation class for artists (and their guests) on Wednesdays from 6:30 - 8:00 pm starting June 30th - July 28th.

I have always believed that spirit, peace within, presence and art making can go hand in hand. As vision makers, we have access to realms others do not see or sense, yet we do not understand them nor know how to bridge the material plane with the artistic plane with the spiritual plane that underpins it all.

This class will try to create bridges for that process so that artists can develop business mind, spirit mind and open heart mind all at the same time. Class will incorporate talks on astrology, trance, vedic philosophy and healing principals to create and maintain balance in life and feed creative input. Visualization topics will include careers and success, managing fear and anxiety, aligning meaning, inspiration and purpose, plus others.

My intention is to create a place for artists and creatives at heart, to come together under one roof, to evolve, discuss matters of the heart and spirit, and use meditation and visualization as a tool for awakening and strategic living that is reasonably priced and of lasting value.

5 classes from 6:30 - 8:00pm. Class will meet at my home at 924 Castle Point Terrace, 2nd Floor, Hoboken, NJ. At times, weather permitting, we will meditate together in the park by the river next to my house. The class fee is $75, or you can come on a class by class basis, stop by if you are free and there is room for $25 per class.

Hope you can make it. Let me know if you would like to reserve a place. Email me at rhonda.schaller@gmail.com

For those out of town, I will be doing this class in the Fall 2010 and Spring 2011 via teleconference and webinar

Friday, May 28, 2010

In my advancing years, I've come to understand how little I understand. And that is such a joyous feeling. Sounds strange, but it is so liberating to feel like a frog in a well who has jumped out of the well.

Of course, I jump back in all of the time. To be human is to search for stability, what is known, what can be counted on. I counsel clients on managing fear of the unknown all the time, working with fear has been an element of my work forever.

I love how Dave puts it "all we can be certain of is uncertainty, and our goal is to allow our intentions to reside in consciousness, and all will be as it is, as it should be". It makes me go ahhh.... I love that. Most of my clients don't go "ahhh..." when I tell them that, so clearly I'm not doing that quote justice. I used to teach workshops on letting go of fear of the unknown, I think I will add that to my list of " what I might start teaching in Hoboken this summer".

I've learned, as many have, that the essence of letting go is surrender, and the path always leads to surrender. Letting go of the need to control that which cannot be controlled is freedom, and freedom is wisdom. It seems to me that to cultivate wisdom, we have two natural tools at our disposal. Vision and Craft.

As creative beings our vision sustains us, guides us, connects us to consciousness in meditation and if we are lucky, in the present moment. The intangible essence of our lives.

Craft is our ability, in "human time", to shape our vision in the material world, our actions, and put our work in the world out into the world. The tangible manifestation of our lives.

So putting the three together, Wisdom, Vision and Craft creates a road to balance, evolution and peace within. I like that. Maybe that's what I'll call the first class I teach in Hoboken this summer.

Thursday, April 29, 2010

I am. I've written before about watching my son play WOW, XBox 360, PS2, etc.. , watching my husband play his XBox 360 games as well. I love it. I am a visitor vicariously loving the ether worlds that artists create, that other artists know in their hearts to be real.

Recently, I was talking to a client who was ashamed of liking to watch people play - and asked me, why I did.

It was a great question. I never thought about it too much before, it seemed interesting, funny even, but light and wonderous at the same time. For me , nothing is what it seems. I love going deeper, parsing out the underbelly of - well , you name it. That is my mercury in scorpio nature, in case you are wondering.

As I analyzed it out loud with my client, I realized that I love being a cheerleader. Being a supportive - you go guy, kill that zombie, buy that armour, enter that ether world challenged mission and, well you get the idea. I love being an avatar voyeur. Entering ether worlds of beautifully drawn imaginings, and travelling along with the hero or heroine - mission accomplished or not, does not matter. I can experience it from a far, imagine my own travels, without having to risk game over. As a retired mars warrior, I like that. An arm chair adventurer. It's funny and spicy at the same time, don't you think?

Part of me thinks that is what I love about being an art collector. It seems similar to me. Watching - collecting. The indescribable beauty of another persons vision that connects to our own - isn't that what art is all about?

I think we all love the surreal. That part of our psyche that connects with life force, demon and angel energetics that impel our consciousness forward into dream land. Which on some level is real time.

I'm sure Dali would understand this post.

I also love to play - but yet am resistant. I have not plugged in my Wii in months. My ikami wolf lies dormant waiting for Mother Devine to breathe fire into his lungs.

Wednesday, March 24, 2010

I find myself wondering about the essence of dignity, and how to best live in concert with our basic life force and vitality. This is not a competitive place, but a place of presence. A place of calm and inner balance. Dignity.

Say the word out loud - Di - g-ni-ty. It rolls off the tongue, and forces a smile with an exhale. Perhaps we can practice this as a breath meditation with sound. And sit in silence afterwards.

It sounds simple enough. But then the ego gets a death grip on our minds - and our thoughts swirl. Self-loathing appears before we know it, and we sabotage ourselves and forget who we are. At our core, we are all connected in our humanity. You wouldn't know it reading the newspapers sometimes, so easy to forget. Anger arises. Dave asks me sometimes - do you want to be right or do you want to be effective?

There was a time I wanted to right. And still do at times, I have to admit. But more and more as I grow older, I want to be effective. I want to help. I want to be myself and not care about climbing, attaining, forcing, voting, changing. Just shining, from the inside out.

I don't understand the dog-eat-dog mentality very well anymore. Or perhaps I have lost patience with its values. Rising at the expense of others. If we do not join together, find a way to help each other, we will not survive. We need community now, more than at any other time. We need to be vocal and local - share and build and support those around us.

In this new age, which I hope to contribute to, the renaissance of beauty and spirit that I feel we need to re-discover in ourselves, and allow to rise, there lies at its core - dignity.

Tuesday, February 16, 2010

I have often felt that the calm center within me, that place beneath the tumultuous storm of emotion and worry is the most sacred place of all. Placidity. If I could only lay down within that circle of light, that fluid pool of liquid consciousness and expand in the reality of placidity, all would be well. All would be eternal. It probably already is, but I fight it.

What else would you expect from a south node aries? Ah, the transformation into a north node libra is an interesting process.

My meditations carry the same image day in and day out. The ravens and harpies grab my fate and fly high in the sky, creating lines of dance and movement that make the angels cry. My next painting. I get this image so often now, it is joyous in a strange way. The lines are lovely, yet the sounds are not. Caucus, loud, like fantasia I needs to script this with classical music. Perhaps mozart or chopin, dvorjak. Life and death in a spiral of dissolution.

Talking to Dave about placidity. An eternal personal goal. He is the most well read philosopher I know and an amazing scholar in his own right. He sent me this beautiful passage, which I love. I find such solace in it.

" In the Taoist belief, nothing is important. In their opinion, the most serious thing that can happen to anyone is to die, and even that is not important. There is nothing worth fretting over or hastening after. Things you do not have are responsibilities escaped. High rank you cannot achieve is disaster avoided. Man's wants are many, but needs are few, and the Taoist makes the goal of his life to live without effort, without stress, and without strain. He moves slowly and methodically, without tension and without nerves, to whatever end he desires to accomplish, always careful that his ends are few.

If he finds himself in a position of responsibility, his first task is to remove the consciousness of responsibility in himself. Where ever he is, he is unconcerned. But crucially, he is not complacent, he is not a fatalist, he is not inert or slothful, he responds to the call of each moment, he does what is required, he does everything as wisely as he can, and then immediately dismisses the entire matter from his mind. Rich or poor, befriended or alone, old or young, he lives in the same sense of detachment. He wastes no energy and permits nothing to irritate him. In this way, he overcomes most of the causes of human decay.

Very few people wear out; most of us rot out. The life of most is corroded by acids of disposition. Strength is wasted toward ends that are not real or valuable. Most men die from the exhaustion attendant upon the effort to live. But the sage lives without effort. He seldom practices great physical exercise; in fact he avoids every type of exertion. He never wonders about what he does, nor fears the results of his thoughts or deeds. Most centrally and importantly, He lives by a formula of virtue and right. He never departs from it, he never concerns himself with evils that may come to him. In other words, he lives as if he were like water, for this fluid fits itself into any container without discomfort, flows into low and simple places without despair, and in the end mingles with the universal waters without regret.

Placidity is power and makes available our inner resources of intuition, creativity, vision, understanding and broad comprehension; relaxation is length of years, detachment is health. It is only one who actually lives the doctrine who can know its truth, and only such a person can take the sting out of life and be fitted to endure peacefully the years allotted."

Tuesday, February 2, 2010

There are times we are simply surviving. Obsessed, so to speak with making payments, stretching the funds we have on hand, trying not to worry about the anxiety that runs our obsessive minds. As a client wrote to me today, "between the funerals and the old house falling apart ..."- things are not going so smoothly. Working gigs are far and few. Tense. This is not a smooth time in the universe. Loss. Obstruction. Unemployment. Yet, I can't help feeling there is a call to the heroic within us that is sounding in the ethers.

The heroic. I know, I'm a mush. But can you hear it?

It raises its head while we are in process. Those glorious moments of process.

Process can be defined as living in the breath. As being present. As just "I am". Meditate on the heroic within you. Paint it, sculpt it, YouTube it.

Process is the feel and sound of the brush scraping along the surface of the paper or canvas. It is sexy. It is life enhancing. It is all encompassing. It is sublime.

I think this is the era of the Great Work. I feel the call in myself, though it is not yet the time. I can hear it off in the distance though. Listen. Perhaps as you can allow the anxiety to subside, and the veiled birds who live between the realms of time who swoop in and remove the strands of your ego and old karmic desires from your minds eye to release you from the bonds of your mind.

Create. Nimble, flexible, chaotic. The times will call for it. You can rise to it. A great work.

Thursday, January 28, 2010

I'm starting to dream again. About art, about artists, how we can create something innovative and soulfully satisfying. Am starting to feel a curatorial pull...

A show about beauty, the human spirit in all its forms and conjugations. Elegant. Lyrical. Perhaps it will ultimately be a show about decay. Or birds.

Perhaps I will curate it and have it hosted in my backyard, and then film it for Youtube, in sequences. That appeals to me. As the work falls to the weather and changes, the dynamic of interaction and the ultimate witness. Is that the artist, is that the viewer, the birds?

Ah, the birds again. Must rent the video. I date myself, I mean the DVD.

Lately, feeling like we can create dynamic awareness through conversation that is indirect. By that I mean, lets take the time to read each others blogs, and react. Start a chain reaction, your idea kindles my idea kindles another idea. Do we need to talk to eachother? I dont' think so. But is that not really the relationship we should aim for? I'm not sure. I liken it to a fireplace - lets put another log on, and see the colors burn. And then what is born within? Ash?

I guess I have a yearning growing for transformation. I want to see it, feel it, taste it, curate it.

Strange musings for an early evening in late January. Time to make dinner.

Don't ask, I really do ponder these ideas. A Pisces moon is a strange creature.

Friday, January 22, 2010

I think a lot about the state of things..art, spirit, love, family, vision, cats.... and community.

I've been talking to Dave for years now about the need to invite in and enhance our community. We can be a bit isolationist, happily so but perhaps not dharmically correct. With the coming collapse of the world as we know it, the pressing importance of building, sustaining, enlivening ones community is calling our name. All of us, not just the personal us. The way forward is presence and inclusiveness, not exclusiveness. I am, you are - the same. All together.

I always come back to the rightness of the universe as it is. Not a platitude that is easily swallowed.

I'm trying to learn as much as I can about the trends that are unfolding around me, and the ways I can be most helpful to those around me. My clients, my students, my loved ones. Those I don't know and will never know. I don't think it matters really. Community is really anyone we turn to and say "i'm here for you". Maybe we are all strangers to each other, and yet, 'I'm here for you". Something totally beautiful about that.

Talked today at the lecture about community, about integrity and authenticity. Business mind bridging to creative mind. I believe all that I say, funny. I do. Lovely crowd today, honest creative beings - who will do important work as they are ready. Sometimes I think that all we need is to be re-inspired to live in our truth, motivated to enact what is real from within - and then all will be ok.

The creative spirit. Naturally forming community. Leading us - as within as is needed. The collective artistic vision will be an interesting manifestation of our times. I look forward to being its witness.

Wednesday, January 6, 2010

I truly believe we are in for a very difficult passage this year. But such is life on the earth plane. If we incarnated during this time, then we are karmically and dharmically right for this time. We face the rebalancing with an open heart, and a deep breathe as we let go of our attachment to the "known". I toast my loved ones with uncertainty, and meditate on the Law. All is as it will be , should be, is was and will be.

Join me in a glass of red wine if you will, and play a video game. What the heck. Human conscious living should be fun if it is anything as we learn to let go and deepen.

So , when my sister sent this chain letter to me - I thought - wonderful. This too shall pass as wisdom, and why not?

I happily share it:

HANDBOOK 2010

Health:
1. Drink plenty of water.
2. Eat breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince and dinner like a beggar.
3. Eat more foods that grow on trees and plants and eat less food that is manufactured in plants...
4. Live with the 3 E's -- Energy, Enthusiasm and Empathy.
5. Make time to reflect.
6. Play more games.
7. Read more books than you did in 2009.
8. Sit in silence for at least 10 minutes each day.
9. Sleep for 7 hours.
10. Take a 10-30 minutes walk daily. And while you walk, smile.

Personality:
11. Don't compare your life to others. You have no idea what their journey is all about.
12 Don't have negative thoughts or things you cannot control. Instead invest your energy in the positive present moment.
13. Don't over do. Keep your limits.
14. Don't take yourself so seriously. No one else does.
15. Don't waste your precious energy on gossip.
16. Dream more while you are awake.
17. Envy is a waste of time. You already have all you need.
18. Forget issues of the past. Don't remind your partner with His/her mistakes of the past. That will ruin your present happiness.
19. Life is too short to waste time hating anyone.. Don't hate others.
20. Make peace with your past so it won't spoil the present.
21. No one is in charge of your happiness except you.
22. Realize that life is a school and you are here to learn. Problems are simply part of the curriculum that appear and fade away like algebra class but the lessons you learn will last a lifetime.
23. Smile and laugh more.
24. You don't have to win every argument. Agree to disagree....

Society:
25. Call your family often.
26. Each day give something good to others.
27. Forgive everyone for everything.
28. Spend time w/ people over the age of 70 & under the age of 6.
29. Try to make at least three people smile each day.
30. What other people think of you is none of your business.
31. Your job won't take care of you when you are sick. Your friends will. Stay in touch.

Life:
32. Do the right thing!
33. Get rid of anything that isn't useful, beautiful or joyful.
34. However good or bad a situation is, it will change..
35. No matter how you feel, get up, dress up and show up..
36. The best is yet to come.
37. When you awake alive in the morning, be thankful.
38. Your Inner most is always happy. So, be happy.

Last but not the least:
39. Please Forward this to everyone you care about, I just did.

Twitter

My Favorite Quote of the Moment

".. Remove this layer of moral superiority within the ivory towers of the art, gallery, academic, photographic and agency world free from the scrutiny of the public and the audience might start listening…."